1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sales e-business tools in general, and, in more particular, an integrated e-business tool that provides dynamic pricing of products and services based on a variety of user inputs.
2. Background Information
It is common for many sales organizations and businesses to offer products and services that are priced using a fixed pricing model in which base products and various optional features corresponding to those base products each have a predetermined price and whereby an overall or final price is determined by aggregating the base price with the price of all of the optional features selected by the buyer. In many instances, such a pricing structure is available in a published form, including catalogs and various electronic forms provided by on-line wholesalers and retailers.
Although fixed pricing models are important, they limit the flexibility of the sales organizations in many ways. For example, suppose that a salesperson has various clients and potential clients he or she works with. Depending on a client's buying habits and other considerations, it may be desired to provide special pricing to one or more particular customers or clients. Typically, this would be done by hand, wherein the salesperson would determine a price for an item using a static pricing model technique, and then manually apply a discount or other type of price adjustment. In another case, it might be desirable to have a price adjustment be made based on a volume level or cost level of the purchase. In other instances, it may be desirable to combine price adjustments based on a plurality of considerations, such as provide special pricing based on attributes of the products being purchases, transactions attributes (e.g., customer, company, location, shipping, etc.), and/or other considerations.